


Of Reddit Posts & Cute Cats

by Rogersruinedmylife



Series: Of Max & Lando [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Angst, Charles and Lando are basically big hoe energy, Charles and Lando are besties, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Fuckbuddies, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Lando is Georges PR manager, Landos cat leads to discoveries, M/M, Mentions of Sexual Acts, Sexual Tension, non-racing driver lando
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogersruinedmylife/pseuds/Rogersruinedmylife
Summary: ‘This is all your fault’, Lando glared accusingly as Clawdia stretched, climbing onto his lap, nudging his hand with her fluffy head.Clawdia blinked her pretty blue eyes at her owner as Lando scratched behind her ear, listening to her purr contently. Her little paws needed at his legs as Lando rubbed her, smoothing the soft cream fur along her back.‘Don’t look at me like that!’, Lando scolded as she stared at him, leaning up to headbutt his chin, chirping as she did.‘Yeah, yeah, you never mean to be the root of all evil Princess Clawdia, but you are’, Lando sighed, picking her up and cuddling her to his chest.It had all started because of her and her big blue eyes and cute face.And that had led him to this point, posting on the Reddit relationship forum, asking for advice because he had gone and caught feelings for his long-term booty call because of his cat.
Relationships: Alexander Albon & Lando Norris & George Russell, Charles Leclerc & Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo & Max Verstappen, Lando Norris/Max Verstappen
Series: Of Max & Lando [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034856
Comments: 9
Kudos: 139





	Of Reddit Posts & Cute Cats

The hangnail at the edge of his thumb throbbed as he nervously picked at it, eyes fixed on the screen of his laptop. Ignoring the underlined spelling and gramme mistakes, Lando was warring with himself. Debating on whether asking the internet for relationship advice was really the best way to approach his current dilemma.

He could text George. It was only nine at night, the driver having no race this week would surely be awake. Lando was sure George had mentioned taking a few days to treat his girlfriend for being away for so long and was reluctant to bother him.

Plus, George would laugh at him. Lando could already hear it, and hear George adding Alex to the call so they could both laugh at the misery he had worked himself into.

Charles was also an option, but the Monegasque man had already told him exactly what he thought of the situation and suggested that he go out and hoe it up, but to wear protection as he did.

Lando did not envy the PR agent assigned to Charles when the baby rumours had broken and the little Monegasque shit had added, ‘Baby Daddy’, to his Twitter bio.

George maybe annoying at times and make Lando upload and take more shirtless pictures of him than he wanted, but he would be forever grateful that George had asked him to be his PR agent after university.

His tired eyes flitted over the words as Clawdia rumbled beside him, her small ash grey and cream face rested on his thigh. Every so often one of her claws would dig through the denim, demanding attention from her anxious owner.

‘This is all your fault’, Lando glared accusingly as Clawdia stretched, climbing onto his lap, nudging his hand with her fluffy head.

Clawdia blinked her pretty blue eyes at her owner as Lando scratched behind her ear, listening to her purr contently. Her little paws needed at his legs as Lando rubbed her, smoothing the soft cream fur along her back.

‘Don’t look at me like that!’, Lando scolded as she stared at him, leaning up to headbutt his chin, chirping as she did.

‘Yeah, yeah, you never mean to be the root of all evil Princess Clawdia, but you are’, Lando sighed, picking her up and cuddling her to his chest.

It had all started because of her and her big blue eyes and cute face.

And that had led him to this point, posting on the Reddit relationship forum, asking for advice because he had gone and caught feelings for his long-term booty call because of his cat.

Clawdia purred in his ear as he reached forward, hitting post on the Reddit page, sealing his fate.

‘I hope you’re happy Clawdia’, Lando grumbled, readjusting to lie down on the sofa as he thought about how it had all started.

.

Although he blamed Clawdia for his current predicament, the actual ‘problem’ had started years before he had found her abandoned at the side of the Silverstone Track during a race weekend.

If he had asked Alex, his logical friend would draft it back to their earlier years. When Lando was racing in karting and F4, flying passed opponents twice his size including his friends.

It was there after all that he had met Max Verstappen for the first time. When they were both chubby cheek and high voiced, focused on the thrill of racing. They had even started an easy friendship built on chatting in between races about the latest video games before Max’s father would come in, large and scary, yelling in Dutch and dragging Max away.

That had been before his accident. The one he still had nightmares about being back in the car as control slipped from him at fifteen, as it barrelled through the air and rolled, his body moving and shattering in ways that had ended a promising career.

Max had been moving on to bigger and better things, becoming one of the youngest F1 drivers.

Lando had been relearning how to walk after multiple surgeries to reconstruct his knee. Retraining himself in how to write again after his shoulder had shattered and nerves had been damaged on impact.

It had not been until Lando was freshly graduated, a degree in PR and Social Media Relations framed and hung in his little home office, that they had crossed paths again.

The management firm that had handled George had given him an internship in his college years, preparing him to take over from George’s current manager once they retired and George had gotten settled into F1.

Lando hadn’t expected to be greeted warmly by Max Verstappen of all people, having only spoken twice after his accident in F4, yet the older man had done a double take upon seeing Lando at the first race of the last season before pulling him into a hug.

He had been shocked by the strength in the arms holding him, almost missing the teasing voice in his ear as Max stated, ‘Still as short as the last time I saw you, mate’.

A startled laugh had left his lips as he pulled back to punch the older man’s broad shoulders, ignoring the flush he could feel rising in his cheeks. Max had gotten hotter and broader over the years they had been apart while Lando had grown into his slight frame and boyish features.

‘You’re still a dick’, Lando had teased back, fixing his glasses that had been jostled in the hug.

‘Aw mate you have glasses now’, Max had cooed, reaching out as if to touch the frames but dropping his hand at the last second, ‘That’s so cute Lando’.

Before he could respond, George had appeared at his side, draping an arm over shoulders having finished a pre-practice interview with Jenson Button and Sky F1 and ushering Max towards Button as Lando led his charge to his next interview.

Later that night as he was finishing up editing a queue of posts for George’s team social media accounts, Lando’s phone had pinged with a message from an unknown number.

The text simply reading, ‘You look cute in your glasses 🤓’, and he knew it was Max.

And it had been as easy as breathing falling back into their friendship, into teasing messages and online gaming between races and Lando’s busy schedule as George navigated his second year in F1.

Lando had figured out quickly that he was attracted on a physical level to Max in a curious way. The way he sometimes looked at George or Alex and wondered would it be weird to kiss any of his best friends or would it be strangely right? It was a curiosity rather than a crush. A fleeting thought when he was hanging out with Max in the hotel and he moved in a way that flashed his abs or showed the curve of his arm muscles.

It was never a need or urge or want to date Max or even sleep with him. Just random thoughts that passed through his mind the same way it did whenever he saw an attractive man or woman pass him by or even as he scrolled through his Instagram feed.

It was a curiosity and a what if, one he was happy to leave untested as he had settled into a pattern of drunkenly making out with Charles when the other was between relationships and they were both lonely.

Yet that was not the problem that had led him to posting part of his life under a throwaway account on the Reddit Relationship forum that he had been lurking on for days.

It had started in Lando’s second season in F1 with George and after a very stressful day that had left him wanting nothing more than to get drunk.

George had had a fantastic race the day before, finishing p6, his highest so far. In celebrating with the team and other drivers while Lando was catching up on some well needed sleep, George had drunkenly posted a series of videos to his Instagram story that Lando had been reamed by the Williams principle for. Drunk George had apparently decided to screw Lando over by posting videos of him dancing shirtless and taking part in a shots contest with Charles, something Williams were not pleased with and took up with Lando at great length despite having given him the night off duty.

He had been stressed, anxiously pacing the hallways of his hotel waiting for Charles to answer his phone so he could complain and get cuddled as he was avoiding George, unable to face his friends hungover and apologetic words. Charles would let him rant and cuddle him until the ball of anxiety eased and he could go talk to George without yelling at him.

Firm hands had caught his shoulders mid-pace, turning him around to face the worried gaze of Max’s blue eyes as they studied his face.

Having seen something, he must not have liked, Max wrapped an arm around Lando’s shoulders and dragged him to his room. Ushering the smaller man into his suite, allowing him to kick off his shoes and follow him towards the couch set up away from the bed in front of the television.

Lando had hovered awkwardly as Max had puttered about the room, pulling two cokes from the mini fridge, and handing one to Lando as he watched him fidget nervously.

‘Relax mate, you’re too worked up’, Max had stated, moving to stand in front of the younger.

Lando had shook his head, taking a step back and allowing the feeling of the cool wall to calm his nerves. His fingers played with the label on the coke bottle, pulling at the edge as it came away.

‘You to unwind’, Max snorted, amusement glinting in his eyes as he raised an eyebrow, ‘Is Leclerc not putting out enough?’

Lando had choked on an inhaled breath, staring in shock at the Dutch man as Max waved off his concern.

‘Mate you two are so cuddly at parties and dinners, hard to miss you’re dating’, Max had muttered, looking away at the end of his sentence.

‘We’re not dating’ Lando had coughed out, massaging his throat, ‘We make out sometimes when we need company, but Charlie is not…not my type’.

‘Oh?’, Max questioned, voice low, ‘What is your type then Lando?’

Lando had hesitated, watching as Max took the silence to take a drink. Lando watched the line of his jaw and neck, the bobbing of his throat as he swallowed and tried to think unsexy thoughts. Yet he could not stop himself from tilting his head and giving Max a once over.

His mouth had escaped the control of his brain, simply stating, ‘You’.

Before Lando had time to panic at the word that had left his mouth Max had stepped closer, resting his drink on the television stand beside where Lando leant against the wall and stepping into his space. The way his blue eyes darkened and the smirk on his lips as he pressed closer made Lando shiver, involuntarily tilting his head up to meet Max’s gaze as the other crowded him against the wall.

He had to bite his lip when he noticed just how much bigger than him Max was. How his body engulfed his while still preserving distance between them. Lando had always had a thing for his partners being broader than him, there was something comforting and powerful in being blanketed by someone he was with.

‘Tell me no, Lando, and this stops here and now’, Max muttered against Lando’s cheek as Lando resisted the urge to vibrate out of his skin and jump his friend. The tension between them building and making him dizzy with the possibilities.

Swallowing his fears, Lando arched up against Max, pressing their bodies tightly together and taking advantage of the others shock to whisper against his ear while fisting a hand in the material of Max’s shirt as Max’s larger hands fitted over his narrow hips.

‘Are you going to help me relax or should I go find Charlie to lend a hand while you stand here looking pretty, Verstappen?’, Lando asked coyly, relishing in the way Max’s fingers tightened on his hips, pulling him closer as the other shudder.

‘You’re a fucking brat’, Max groaned before pulling him into a rough kiss, letting Lando’s hands drift from his shoulders to his hair, tugging as they fought for a control they both knew Lando would willing hand over as Max turned them around and walked them to the bed.

Hands tugged at clothes, bites were left across sharp collarbones as Lando melted into the mattress, all too willing to take everything Max had to give him.

It was in the aftermath, when he lay sprawled under Max’s frame, body’s sticky and content as Max trailed fingers across his ribs that Lando realised that this should be strange. They should be panicking and yelling at each other like in those romcoms that Alex loved to make them watch. Two friends should not be as comfortable as they were, lying chest to chest, Max’s face in his hair as their bodies shivered with the come down that came with great sex.

‘So…’, Lando had spoken eventually, running his own fingers across the muscles of Max’s back, enjoying how the other shifted towards his hands still, ‘Same time next race week?’.

Max had snorted, pressing a kiss against his forehead, ‘You don’t find this weird? Two friends having sex usually fucks things up’

Lando laughed, pinching Max’s ribs, wiggling his eyebrows at the older, ‘Well one thing definitely got fucked…’

Max groaned, rolling off the smaller man to collapsing beside him, attempting to stifle his own giggles at Lando’s horrendous joke before wrapping an arm around him.

‘Okay, we can do this again. We were pretty good at it, no?’, Max smirked as Lando laughed, ‘But the second it fucks with our friendship we stop, okay? Great sex isn’t worth losing as my friend’

Lando hummed, turning onto his side to gaze at Max and offer him his pinkie finger, ‘I swear to you that the F1 game will be fully playable and without glitches before I let us fall apart over great sex’.

Max let out a laugh that made Lando’s chest feel warm as Max wrapped his own pinkie around his in promise. It was a rare unguarded laugh that Lando had only witnessed a handful of times when the other was truly relaxed and at ease.

Much like their friendship, falling into bed with each other and spending time as friends came as easy to them as racing had when they were both young.

Lando still bugged Max on iRacing and laughed at him when he fell down ladders on Call of Duty. Max teased Lando relentlessly about his glasses and height, pulling pranks on him when possible and remaining one of the closest friends Lando had outside of his core trio.

Despite having regular, mind blowing sex on every surface available including on a certain person in Red Bull’s desk as a fuck you after a highly critical review of a P2 performance, nothing had changed between them

Lando had been sure that after the first night Max would be awkward with him, pulling the No Homo card and ignoring him, leaving Lando with only the marks on his collarbones and thighs as a reminder. Yet he had been wrong as Max pulled him into a hug, ruffling his hair before leaving to catch his ride to the airport in the hotel lobby the next day, shouting to Lando that he would call him during the week for some well needed CoD downtime.

Even George and Alex who knew Lando like the back of their own hands had never picked up on the hickeys or times they had caught him and Max in compromising position in his room or around secluded areas of the Paddock on particularly stressful days when one or the other needed relief.

In fact, much to Max’s annoyance, it had been Charles that had figured it out after spotting a particularly fresh mark on Lando’s neck as him and Max had come out of a club bathroom together at George’s birthday.

Lando had the memory of Charles smiling sweetly and threatening Max’s balls if he hurt Lando in any way before calmly walking back towards Pierre and seating himself in his best-friends lap, burned into his brain for whenever he needed a good laugh. Max had looked like a disgruntled pigeon, something which Lando had told him to his face before Max made a comment about how much Lando had been enjoying that face only ten minutes ago.

His second conversation with Charles on the matter was one that Lando didn’t want to remember or think about. He hated seeing the pity and warning in Charles warn eyes as his friend had warned him about how dangerous a game he was playing. That not only was he going to fuck up a friendship, but that Max would turn his back on him the minute Jos Verstappen said Lando’s friendship was a waste of time, a distraction from Max’s goal.

It had stung as Lando sat there later that night, listening to Max talk about how his father had told him to turn down a sponsorship contract because they were known to represent the LGBT+ community heavily in their campaigns and it would make Max unfavourable in the eyes of certain FIA members.

Despite Lando’s fears and Charles’s warnings, six months down the line and on summer break they were still functioning as perfectly as that first week. They slotted into each other’s lives and time seamlessly.

No, the problem for Lando had not arisen from simply sleeping with his friend or Max’s manipulative asshole of a father, but from the first time Max had come to Lando’s flat to hook up and met Clawdia.

*

Summer break had been a welcome reprieve for Lando, having organised all of George’s interviews and commitments for the week before, he was free to relax in sweatpants and game with Clawdia curled at his side.

Until he got a simple text from Max one night that made him both excited and want to burst into laughter at the sight of the eggplant emoji and question mark the other had sent him.

Instead of replying, Lando had just sent him back a kissy face and his address before rushing to change out of his sweats, tidy his flat, making sure his sheets were fresh and his teeth brushed as he waited, tension growing under his skin at the thought of Max in his bed. Or on the couch. Or kitchen counter. Lando was not picky when it came to where as long as he got to have Max holding him down and making his skin spark.

The knock at the door had sent him almost tripping over Clawdia who hissed at him, trotting away, her fluffy tail swishing in annoyance as her owner paid more attention to the man at his door.

Max had no sooner closed the door behind him before Lando was shoving him against it, already unzipping Max’s rain jacket and pushing the god awful Red Bull cap from the others head to thread his fingers through his hair, his mouth sucking gentle bruises into the others throat as Max pulled him close.

It was long before Max had Lando pinned against the wall in the hallway, thigh pressed between Lando’s legs providing a friction Lando had no problem seeking out while Max bit at his lips drawing whines from him.

‘Fuck, what is that?’, Max groaned suddenly, pulling away from Lando’s lips to look down.

Lando had snorted, raising an eyebrow at the other from where he was still pressed into the wall, crotch pressed against Max’s thigh, ‘You’d think after all this time you’d know what my dick feels like Maxy’.

‘Shut up Lando, I’m well aware of your dick,’ Max rolled his eyes, pointing down at their feet where Clawdia sat, blinking up at them with bright blue eyes, ‘I meant what was sticking their claws in my leg’.

‘Oh’, Lando had muttered, blushing as Max stepped away, crouching down and holding his hand out to Clawdia who sniffed it curiously.

She warily glanced between Lando and Max, who was still offering her his hand, her little cream paws shifting as if she was unsure about what to do.

‘She isn’t that friendly to strangers so don’t take offence if….’, Lando paused midsentence as his beautiful but high maintenance and picky cat purred at Max, pressing her cream and ash grey face into his hand, letting the other coo at her gently.

‘You’re such a pretty girl, such a sweet little furball aren’t you gorgeous?’, Max cooed as Clawdia climbed into his arms, nuzzling under his chin as Max stood up. He cradled Clawdia to his chest with such care and a look of amazement in his eyes as he turned to show Lando that she was purring contently in his arms, even licking Max’s chin softly.

The sight of Max Verstappen standing in his hallway, lips kiss bruised, hair and clothes rumpled as he cuddled his long haired Siamese to his chest as if she was the most precious thing he had ever held, a soft look in his eyes that made the normally stern face look years younger.

It had been in the dim light of his hallway, watching Max laugh at her name before pressing a kiss to the top of her fluffy head and placing her on the couch and returning to kiss Lando just as sweetly as he had been holding Clawdia, that something in Lando clicked into place.

It would not be until hours later as his body ached deliciously as he stretched, watching Max play with Clawdia on couch before petting her goodbye and kissing Lando’s temple sweetly as he left as quickly as he arrived, that Lando realised the emptiness of the apartment weighed on him.

He missed Max.

*

From there it had been a slow but steady spiral.

Every time kissed, Lando held on a little tighter, made it last a little longer. It was like he was grasping at sand as he tried to make his time with Max last, not even really realising why he wanted the other man around more often.

He found himself sneaking glances in the media pen when he was meant to be ushering George down the line, watching for the mischievous smile and playful laugh whenever a race had gone well and Max was feeling proud of himself.

Over winter break, Max had become more accessible having opted to stay in England and take a break from the Monaco life. Instead he spent his weeks training, lounging round his flat and coming over to Lando’s for gaming and sex.

Lando had caught himself more than once pressing a hand to his stomach as it did cartwheels as Max brought treats and toys with him for Clawdia with each visit. His chest growing tight as he watched the other man relax in a way, he never did with anyone, not even with Lando when they were cuddled close after sex, just breathing each other in.

Something had changed all those weeks ago and suddenly he was noticing just how blue Max’s eyes were, how expressive they could be, how softly he held Lando too him whenever they had been apart for a while and the little blush on his cheeks when Lando called him cute or hot.

Lando was sure he was sick or developing some weird Max allergy with the amount of times he felt dizzy just from being near the other man.

It had taken talking to Charles as he lay on top of the Monegasque man while watching The Great British Bake Off during a slow race week to realised that he wasn’t sick.

He had simply done the one thing he had promised he wouldn’t do.

He had fallen for Max.

Charles had looked at him softly, drawing patterns into the warm skin of Lando’s back where his shirt had ridden up as Maria overcooked her biscuits in the background, as the realisation struck him.

‘I fucked up Charlie,’ Lando panicked, pressing his face into the comforting material of Charles’s hoodie.

‘No cherie, you are human, and unfortunately love is something we have no control over’, Charles reassured, running a hand through Lando’s curls.

‘What am I going to do Charlie? I can’t tell him, it will ruin us’, Lando whispered, listening to his friend’s steady heartbeat, ‘I promised him we wouldn’t lose us by doing this’

Charles hummed, smirking at Lando as he poked him in the cheek.

‘You are going to return to being friends, and then’, Charles wiggled his eyebrows dramatically, tickling Lando, ‘We are going to go and be, how do they say it? Hoes together and go clubbing to help you forget all this’

Lando couldn’t hold back his laughter at his friend’s ridiculous words and tickling, relenting to allow himself to relax against Charles once more and watch as Maria fucked up her Eifel Tower made of biscuits.

‘It’s like she has never even seen the Tower’, Charles grumbled as Lando patted his shoulder unsympathetically.

*

That conversation had left him feeling lighter, but seeing Max at race weekends and still feeling the strength and warmth of his touch every other week had Lando frayed at the edges and desperate enough to reach out to Reddit for help.

He should have listened to Charles all those months agon when he warned him this could end badly.

Lando had just assumed that he would be the one getting hurt.

He never thought he would be desperate enough to take the advice of a stranger on the internet who did not know him or Max aside from a few lines in the hastily written Reddit post.

If he had just left it alone, ignored the post or simply done as Charles had advised and called it off, Max wouldn’t be standing in front of him. Shoulders hunched, looking smaller than Lando had ever seen him, and a pain etched deep into his face that Lando had put there.

*

It had seemed like a good idea when his anxious and tired brain had read the response to his post by PettyBiBoi69 at 3am as he tried to get the ghost of Max’s hands from the hours before to leave him in peace.

‘If I were L, I would distance myself from M, play hard to get and maybe hint at being with someone else. Guys like M thrive on the chase. Playing coy will only leave you with a broken heart and your cat’

Lando had thought that was genius. Max had reacted strongly before to the times he had teased him about getting Charles to take care of his needs, playing off the rivalry between the two drivers. He simply had to find a way to make Max jealous and he would have his answer. He wouldn’t be stuck in this loop of wanting more than was on the table, he could get Max to return his feelings.

He started by slowly pulling back over a series of race weekends, cutting their hangout time short with excuses of media duties and having too much to do with managing George’s move to Mercedes after a stellar last season at Williams.

Max had bought it easily enough, reminding Lando through text and in person to not over work himself. Sending him memes and supportive messages whenever he noticed the other was down or stressed as he dashed passed his friend in the paddock from meeting to meeting.

The sweetness of it almost cracked his resolve.

Instead of responding or giving in, Lando simply stopped responding to Max’s messages. He would leave them on read for days before apologising, stating he was busy with work while knowing that Max had seen his private Instagram stories of him out with Sacha and Max Fewtrell, hopping for bar to bar, and dancing with strangers in the hopes that Max would confront him.

He had noticed that Max had begun to seem withdrawn, even when walking through the paddock with Daniel. His eyes always seemed to be seeking someone out, shoulders slumping whenever they didn’t find who he sought. The few times Lando had locked eyes with him after he placed his plan in action the bright blue he had come to lover seemed dulled and closed off, his smile towards Lando slowly becoming the strained and awkward media smile that dominated his Instagram pics.

Despite the sinking feeling in his chest and the fact George had noticed that something had changed between him and Max after almost a year of sleeping together, Lando kept going with his plan. Clinging to the idea that Max wanted to chase him, that him being the more dominate when they had sex meant that he would come to him, that Lando just had to be patient and keep on course.

After rejecting Max’s latest request to hang out with a simple, ‘I’m seeing someone else tonight…’, it all came to a head.

It had been three days since Lando had replied to Max’s text instantly for the first time in weeks, shutting down his plans by faking another person making move on Lando’s after him solely being Max’s for almost a year.

He hadn’t expected Max to confront him while he was at home, curled up on his couch in the middle of binging Drag Race and texting Charles about the bitchier queen when a bang on his door disrupted the sound of the rain falling outside.

Lando had paused his show, glancing at where Clawdia was curled on her cat scratcher, one eye opening sleepily to watcher her owner as he turned towards his door as another bang echoed in the silent apartment.

He hadn’t expected to see Max standing there. His face blank, eyes cold and hardened as his rain jacket dripped into the hallway of the apartment complex.

‘We need to talk’, Max’s voice was low, tired as if he hadn’t slept in weeks as Lando stepped aside, allowing him to enter.

His heart raced in his chest. Mind running a mile a minute as he internally debated if this was it if Max was here because his plan had worked.

Lost in his thoughts he almost missed the way Max held himself awkwardly in the middle of his living room, eyes fixed on the floor, jacket still dripping. Normally Max slotted into Lando’s home as if he had always been there. A part of Lando and his life.

Now he was out of place. Small and lost among Lando’s life as the younger tried to get his mouth to form words when cold blue glanced up at him once more.

The pain in Max’s gaze would haunt him for days, as would the way his voice broke when he spoke.

‘Was it something I did?’, Max asked brokenly, looking at Lando for answers, ‘I keep trying to think if I hurt you, if I did something you didn’t like or said something stupid to drive you away, but I can’t think of anything to make you do this Lando’

The silence that rang between them was deafening.

‘I….I don’t know what you mean Max’, Lando stuttered, pulling his sleeves over his hands anxiously. His stomach churned with the weight of Max’s gaze and words.

‘Bullshit’, Max spat, anger bubbling and fading quickly, leaving him looking worn down, ‘You know you’ve been avoiding me Lando. Ignoring my messages, lying to me about being busy, so what did I do to make you hate me like this?’

It broke Lando to hear the words. To see what his misguided attempt at drawing Max closer to him had done to his friend, to the man he had fallen in love with over the course of the last year.

‘Max I don’t hate you, I swear I don’t’ Lando choked out, feeling tears prick at his eyes, struggling to find the words to explain everything, to fix them.

‘Then why Lando?’ Max begged, crossing his arms over his chest protectively. Almost as if he was holding himself together to stop from breaking in case Lando decided to plange a knife deeper into his already wounded heart.

Lando had no words. Nothing that seemed enough to explain his panic, the way he had desperately tried to pull his friend to him that had torn them apart in process.

Max watched him, waiting for any sign of an explanation. It never came.

Lando tried to reach out, to pull Max close to comfort him as the other closed his eyes, seeming to pull himself together when Lando could see his shoulders tremble, his hands shaking. He could see the tension and heartache carved into every inch of Max’s posture as the older man shrunk into himself, shoulders curling in a way that made him look like Lando had punched him in the gut, ripping all air out of his lungs.

‘You promised me’, Max accused brokenly, eyes watery and meeting Lando’s once more, ‘You promised I wouldn’t lose you. You lied to me’

Max flinched as Lando stepped forward before skirting around Lando, putting him closer to the door of the apartment as the younger tried to grab him, to pull him close until he could push back the anxiety and fear inside him and let the words Max needed to hear break freak.

‘Max, please…I can’t…’, Lando struggled, feeling the trip in his breathing that usually hinted at a panic attack brewing under the surface.

‘I think you’ve made that much pretty Lando’, Max choked out, stepping backwards, ignoring Clawdia who had woken, crying as she made her way towards Max.

‘I can’t do this anymore Lando, I don’t deserve this’, Max stated simply as if all fight had left him. No emotion in his voice or face or those eyes Lando loved as he walked out the door, closing it with a gentle click that sounded like a bullet as Lando fell to his knees.

Lando didn’t know how long he had sat there, watching the door as if Max would come back at any minute. That he would pull Lando into his arms so he could cry and explain, explain that he had been so scared of loving Max that he lost him in the process of trying to keep him.

He didn’t remember when his legs went numb or the sun came up. He couldn’t recall sending an e-mail to HR requesting a week’s sick leave or contacting his assistant to take over all of George’s commitments for the next race, or how he had gotten into bed.

All he could remember was how small and broken Max had looked. The words he had thrown at Lando echoing in his head and wrapping around his lungs to choke the air out of them while he cried until his face felt numb and his stomach ached from the heaving sobs. His guilt ate at him, chipping away at everything as he tried to figure out where it had gone so wrong. Charles had warned him it would, but Lando had forced himself to believe this idea would work, he had had to try a way without embarrassing himself.

Instead of embarrassing himself, he had broken something he had swore to Max they wouldn’t lose.

He operated on autopilot. Feeding himself and Clawdia when needed, even though he felt nauseous every time he pictured Max’s face, heard his broken promise brought back to him.

He ignored George’s worried messages that gradually grew panicked throughout the week. Ignored when Alex and Charles began to reach out to him from Spain, questioning his absence and disappearance. Even Sacha had come around, knocking on the door as Lando lay on his couch, Clawdia pawing at him in attempt to bring a little life back to her human while Sacha asked him to open the door.

Lando closed his eyes.

He saw Max’s hurt expression, the painful image burnt into his eyelids and the cycle began again.

At the end of the week, Lando woke up to a hand holding his, a warm chest against his back. Despite the fact he knew the hand was too slim and the chest too narrow and long, Lando hoped, for the briefest moment, that it was Max.

Opening his eyes he found Charles curled in front of him, George spooning the Monegasque driver with a hand reach towards Lando’s head as if he had been petting his hair.

‘We were worried about you’, Alex whispered from behind him, resting his head on Lando’s curls.

‘I’m…’, Lando began to croak but was cut off by George snoring as Charles grumbled and shifted closer to Lando.

‘You’re not fine Lando’, Alex sighed, running a hand down the younger mans side, ‘You’ve been not fine for a while. Charles ripped into us for not noticing before last week that something was eating you, that something had happened between you and Max that obviously hurt you both’.

Lando felt himself squeeze his eyes shut, willing himself not to cry at Max’s name.

‘I know you Lando, this is guilt eating you. Tell me what happened please, we just want to help you’, Alex begged, squeezing Lando closer, comfort radiating off the Thai driver’s body melting the freeze that had claimed Lando’s words that day Max had confronted him.

Once he started, he couldn’t stop. Not even when his hands shook, and his throat hurt from dehydration. He kept talking as his friends slept around him and Alex listened, a warm reassuring presence at his back. His hands gentle as he hugged him close as Lando tore himself open after holding everything in for months on end.

‘Do you want my honest opinion?’, Alex whispered as Lando turned his head to glance back at him, nodding as Alex played with his curls.

‘You fucked up’, Alex stated softly, no judgement on his face, ‘but that doesn’t mean it’s over. You need to be honest with him Lando, tell him everything. Tell him how you feel, even if he doesn’t feel the same, you both get closure, and it will stop hurting with time’.

Lando nodded, fidgeting slightly at the thought of actually having this conversation with Max. Of facing him after everything he had done and admitting it was out of fear and love. Max would have every right to slam the door in his face and demand Lando never speak to him again, but he knew Alex was right.

‘Thanks’ Alex’, Lando whispered, reaching to squeeze Alex’s arm and accidently dislodging Charles who startled at the movement.

Lando and Alex watched in fascination as Charles jerked his foot back suddenly, his curled position unfortunately placing his heel in line with George’s crotch. The sharp jerk backwards collided straight with George’s unprotected dick, startling the other man awake as he gasped in pain, rolling away from the source of it and off the edge of the bed with a resounding thump.

The room was silent except for George’s pained gasp before Alex, Lando and a half-asleep Charles lost it, bursting into laughter as George cursed from his position on the floor.

‘Oh, for fucks sake Charles, you broke my dick’, George yelped, sitting up as he clutched himself.

‘Mate, I think your dick is too small to be big enough for Charlie to break’, Alex teased, rising for the bed, ‘Coffee anyone?’.

‘Oi!’, George yelled at Alex’s disappearing figure, scrambling to follow him while still cupping himself and moving awkwardly, ‘You take that back Albon!’.

Lando was still giggling as Charles pulled his attention back towards him, the other man eyeing Lando carefully as if he was searching for injury.

‘Don’t disappear on me ever again’, Charles simply stated, still holding Lando’s hand.

‘I won’t Charlie’, Lando promised, pulling his friend into a hug, and letting him cuddle him close.

*

Lando waited until after the next race weekend to make his move on Max.

It wouldn’t have been right for him to reach out mid-race weekend when Max’s attention needed to be focused on the car and the track. Lando had no place disturbing him while he was trying to work, no matter how much he wanted to reach out when he saw how sad Max seemed despite being projected to win the race.

It also would have been hard to approach Max with Daniel Riccardo hovering around the Red Bull driver despite driving for McLaren and sending Lando glares any time they crossed paths in the paddock.

Instead he had travelled to Monaco with George and Charles and paced his way around Charles apartment as Charles convinced Daniel to tell them when Max would be home so Lando could go talk to him.

Despite the glares the driver had sent him all weekend, Daniel had apparently wanted to see Max happy again, even if that meant letting Lando into the apartment under the guise of getting takeaway for his and Max’s lunch, allowing Lando a chance to speak with him alone.

That was assuming that Max didn’t kick him out the minute he saw him.

Lando couldn’t help but picture the worst as Charles had dropped him off, squeezing his had in comfort before text Daniel that Lando was on his way up before Lando could chicken out and beg him to take him home.

As Lando made his way towards Max’s apartment, Daniel was waiting outside. The normally sunny and cheerful Austrilian was leaning against the door looking unimpressed as Lando approached, arms crossed defensively as he eyed up the younger man as he came to a stop in front of him.

‘You hurt him pretty badly’, Daniel stated in lieu of greeting, the unspoke question of why he should let Lando have a chance to apologise went unspoken but not unheard.

‘I know’, Lando agreed, not backing down from the older man, ‘I’m not here to make excuses or hurt him again. I will explain what happened, tell him I how I feel about him and if he want’s me on the next plane out of Monaco then I am gone’

Daniel watched him for a second longer before breaking into a smile, ruffling Lando’s hair before turning the key in the apartment door, ‘I’m rooting for you Norris’

Lando had little time to react before he was being shoved into the apartment hallway, door closing behind him with a snap. He turned to face the walk into the spacious living room, feeling the walls closing in on him a little as his heart thundered in his chest.

He only had one chance.

Max’s voice pulled him out of his panic induced freeze as he called out from the living room, ‘Dan, did you forget your wallet again old man?’

Lando squared his shoulder, swallowing his fear as he made his way down the hallway, rounding into the living room where Max was sitting with his back towards him playing FIFA half-heartedly.

‘Hi Maxy’, Lando called out gently, trying to keep the shake from his voice as he noticed the way Max immediately straightened, freezing at the sound of his and tensing.

The game was paused as Max whipped around, standing to look at Lando with disbelief in his eyes. It made Lando’s chest clench to see those blue eyes that had gazed at him with affection now flicker over him warily, as if he was a stranger.

‘What are you doing here Lando? I thought it was pretty clear where you wanted us to stand last time we spoke’, Max threw at him, posture defensive and keeping the couch between them as a barrier.

‘I owe you an explanation, Max’, Lando kept his voice steady, trying not to make himself curl inwards, ‘I hurt you. I didn’t mean to but I did. You have every right to kick me out and never speak to me again, but I need you to know that this was never your fault. I fucked us up Max, not you’

Max shifted as if he wanted to comfort the other but was resisting his urges as his fingers clenched and unclenched at his sides. He nodded for Lando to continue.

Lando took a deep breath. Max was letting him speak. He could fix this. Even if Max didn’t want him, he could relieve his suffering.

‘I took advice from a Reddit forum after posting an anonymous post on a relationship forum asking for help. I changed the details and didn’t use names, don’t worry about it being traced to you, but I needed answers for what I was feeling and how to cope with it. It was eating me up Max and I was scared’, Lando choked out, trying to steady to his shaking hands, ‘I was scared because I realised, I loved you. That I wanted to find a way to keep you for myself and be more than what we were. So, I took bad advice. I distanced myself from you. I tried to make you jealous by going out and saying there was someone else because I thought you would chase after me’

Lando paused, trying to find the words, swallowing his anxiety as he avoided looking at Max. Not wanting to see the reaction to his confession as he heard the others breath stutter slightly.

‘I just wanted an easy way to make you mine without having to be vulnerable. I panicked, and in panicking, I destroyed our friendship when I should have just told you I loved you or asked to stop sleeping together. It wasn’t fair to you and I can’t apologise enough Max. I know…I know this doesn’t fix anything or magically make it right but I need you to know that you were perfect, you were beautiful and funny and kind, and I fucked us up because I couldn’t deal with the fact that I had fallen for someone who meant as much to me as you do’, Lando finished, make sure to lift his gaze and catch Max’s eyes with his, wanting those last words to stick

If Max never wanted anything to do with him again, he wanted him to know that he was loved and Lando was the one who had sabotaged everything they had.

Max was staring at him in shock, his eyes clouded with confusion and awe. Hands still clenched at his side as Lando watched him process through everything he had said slowly. He looked as if he wanted to speak, mouth moving a few times before he swallowed, looking away from where Lando stood and Lando understood.

He had said everything he needed to; it was time to leave.

‘I’m sorry for basically breaking into your apartment. I’m going to leave you alone now, I just needed you to know it was never your fault’, Lando smiled gently despite the fact that his own heart was fracturing once more inside his chest.

He closed his eyes briefly, taking a breath to gather the strength to leave now that he was with Max once more. Lando had always found leaving Max to be the hardest part of their arrangement.

Turning his back, and stepping away, Lando hoped that Max would be happy someday with someone that deserved how wonderfully he truly was behind his defences, and with that thought he began his walk back to the hallway, back towards Charles and the comfort of his friend.

A hand wrapped around his wrist, tugging him backwards and turning him so Max could engulf him a warm hug. An arm wrapped around his waist, holding him against Max’s firm chest as his other hand tucked Lando’s head under his chin, knotting fingers in his curls, holding him close. Letting him soak in the warmth that had been missing from his life for weeks as he listened to the quickened pace of Max’s heartbeat.

‘You’re so fucking stupid’, Max choked out, emotion thickening his accent as Lando cuddled closer. His own arms wrapping around Max’s back and shoulders.

‘I know’, Lando hid his smile in Max’s shoulder, trying not to cry from affection bleeding through Max’s words and actions.

‘You have a lot to make up for,’ Max threatened gently, pulling back to tip Lando’s head up to gaze into his eyes, teary green eyes meeting sparkling blue.

‘Anything you want’, Lando promised, placing a kiss on Max’s jaw, watching as a small smile broke through Max’s façade.

‘I love you, you idiot’, Max laughed, pulling Lando into a kiss that was mainly smiles and teeth clashing awkwardly but completely them.

Lando’s own reply got swallowed into the next kiss, one that reminded Lando of the sweet kiss he had given him the day he began to realise his feelings for the older man had changed. It was soft and sweet, full of promises and comfort as Lando and Max clung to each other, afraid to let the other disappear from their arms again.

Later that night, after kicking a smug Daniel and Charles out of Max’s apartment and christening Max’s bed, they lay in bed entangled and content. Lying much like they had that first night with Max blanketing Lando, protecting him from the world and his own thoughts while ensuring he was still there. That was Lando his.

It was then that Lando remembered the cause of all their problems. The furball that had stolen Max’s heart and forced Lando to confront his own feelings for the other man; Clawdia.

‘You know, Clawdia has been moping around since I stopped you coming around’, Lando laughed, tracing the curve of Max’s cheek with the tip of his nose as the older rested his head on his shoulder.

‘You should know I’m only dating you because I miss Clawdia, not Little Lando’, Max teased, nipping at Lando’s shoulder, and making the other shiver, sending sparks across his skin.

‘Mhm, that’s not what you were saying earlier when I was…’, Lando teased, laughing loudly as Max flopped onto him more, tickling his sides before capturing the last one his laughter in another sweet kiss.

Clawdia may have been the root of all his problems, but Lando couldn’t complain when Max was looking at him the way he was now, as if Lando held all the secrets of the universe and Max was devoted to unlocking each and every last one.

No, Lando couldn’t complain, not when Max was here, pressing kisses into his cheeks and over his heart sweetly before spooning him to sleep.

Although he swore as he drifted off, Max warm against his back and hands tangled over his chest, that other muttered something about buying more cat treats for Clawdia for making her stupid owner realise Max had been in love with him all along too.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> This was written loosely based on the Reddit post where someone caught feelings for their fuckbuddy because they were nice to their cat
> 
> I was tipsy when I started this and its been two days in the making
> 
> Please drop a comment if you enjoy this, it gives me life


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